Ref who called Giants for errant penalty has interesting Cowboys past

The media is beating up the New York Giants for losing another winnable game against a division opponent after their 20-15 loss to the Dallas Cowboys on Thursday night.

Yes, they had to settle for five field goals in the game and only got into the red zone twice, but if you look deeper, you’ll find that the officials in that game did not do them any favors.

Dial it back to the first quarter. The Giants took possession on their own 15 and drove down to the Dallas 37 in four plays. On the fifth play, a second-and-7, quarterback Daniel Jones ran for a four-yard gain to the 33.

The officials, whose crew is led by Clay Martin, called a facemask penalty on Giants tight end Daniel Bellinger negating the play. Replays revealed that Bellinger did not commit any penalty at all. In fact, the facemask should have been called on Dallas linebacker Demarion Overshown.

Who do you think got a facemask penalty called on them on this play?

Spoiler: They’re wearing a Giants jersey pic.twitter.com/EaSg2i21VM

— Barstool Sports (@barstoolsports) September 27, 2024

The officials got the call wrong and did not pick up the flag after a short conference. Instead of the Giants having a third-and-3 on the Dallas 33, they were pushed back 15 yards to the Dallas 48.

The Giants ended up settling for a field goal on that drive. Who’s to say they wouldn’t have anyway, but we’ll never know. In a game that was settled by less than one score, little things matter. They add up.

That’s not really the only point here, however. NFL analyst Warren Sharp posted this set of facts on his X media account:

the ref for this game is Clay Martin

this is his 5th Cowboys road game since 2018

Dallas is 4-0 in the other games

opponents have been called for 34 penalties (7 more than DAL) for 298 yds (64 more than DAL)

the timing of these penalties resulted in +11.8 EPA edge for Dallas https://t.co/khPrD8qFPF

— Warren Sharp (@SharpFootball) September 27, 2024

We’re not big on conspiracy theories but we wouldn’t be doing our due diligence if we didn’t share these facts.

In fact, we’ll debunk any conspiracy right now by pointing out that Dallas was called for 11 penalties for 89 yards in the game to the Giants’ four for 35 yards.

But this one on Bellinger hurt. They should have picked up the flag.